Rotary cutting hand tool



April 26, 1955 T. F. CREW ROTARY CUTTING HAND TooL Filed Feb. 18, 1954 .WN vw .n .07... .n m om ww R w i u; Mim Il f lnr |f1| l h Q l w N .o m m III I 4|. .x Il I .im #i United States Patent RGTARY CUTTING HAND rllOOL Theodore Francis Crew, Baltimore, Md.

Application February 18, 1954, Serial No. 411,122

4 Claims. (Cl. 81-182) This invention is a wrench attachment designed primarily to utilize the ordinary Stillson or pipe wrench as a pipe cutter.

A further object of the invention is to provide means of simplified nature, construction and operation to permit the ordinary Stillson wrench to be readily converted to a pipe cutter and by means of which the converted wrench may be utilized to adequately serve the purpose of cutting pipe transversely thereof.

A further object of the invention is to provide means of simple construction capable of generating a maximum amount of cutting action on the pipe cutters with the minimum of manual effort.

A further and particular object of the invention is to provide an attachment thus generally described of such character as to enable the ordinary pipe wrench to be readily converted or transformed to a pipe cutter by simple means and without the necessity of special skill or tools.

A further object is to provide means of the character generally stated which is of simple construction, which is composed of a few simple and readily assembled parts, which has its parts so constructed and arranged as to minimize the opportunity for wear, breakage or derangement, which may be readily detached from the ordinary Stillson wrench, and which will prove highly practical and effective in carrying out the several purposes for its development.

With these objects in view, together with others which will apear as the description proceeds, the invention consists in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts, all as will be described more fully hereinafter, illustrated in the drawings, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawing:

Fig. l is a side elevation, parts broken away, of a conventional form of Stillson wrench showing my improved attachment applied thereto,

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the device as shown in Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken substantially upon the line 3 3 of Fig. l, and

Fig. 4 is a similar View taken upon the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, S indicates the elongated handle of the familiar Stillson wrench, which is usually rectangular in cross section and straight throughout its length. This handle, as usual, is provided with the fixed inner jaw 6 having an offset portion 4 provided with a longitudinally disposed opening through which the outer or sliding jaw projects.

The improved attachment of my invention includes a slidable outer jaw provided with pipe cutting apparatus, means for slidably supporting the outer jaw, and improved means associated with the'wrench handle for controlling the sliding movements of the cutter carrying or movable jaw. In the present instance, the outer or slidable jaw includes a straight shank 8 to slidably move within the offset portion 4 of the wrench, the said shank having an elongated opening 9 therein to receive the screw 10 disposed transversely through the offset portion 4 to maintain the shank slidably engaged therein. The jaw 11 includes the curved member shown integrally connected with the shank and provided in its inner edge with a rotatable cutter wheel or disk represented at 12. The opposite upper and lower edges of the shank 8 are provided with tooth portions 13 to be engaged by the ICC nturned flange 14 on the end of a sleeve 15 rotatably mounted in the tubular portion 16 of the bracket 17 slidably fitted upon the handle 5 of the wrench and secured in adjusted position thereon by the set screw 18. The elongated sleeve 15 receives the inner end of the shank 8, and the said sleeve is held against longitudinal sliding movement within the portion 16 by collars 19 encircling the same and held in proper position in abutting relationship with the ends of the portion 16 by set screws 20. Secured to the inner end of the hollow sleeve 15 as at 21 is a rotatable shaft 22 held in spaced parallel relationship to the handle 5 of the wrench by the bearing 23 formed integral with the supporting bracket 24 enclosing the handle 5 and held in the proper adjusted position thereon by a set screw 25. The extreme inner end of the shaft 22 is provided with a transversely disposed handle or hand grip indicated at 26.

The lixed jaw 6 at the outer end of the handle is provided with the removable block 27 having rotatably mounted near the outer surface thereof the cutter disks or wheels 28 to cooperate with the cutter 12 of the movable jaw in bringing about the proper cutting action of a pipe interposed between the fixed and movable jaws. This block is held in fixed position in the inner jaw by the set screw 29.

In operation, the bracket members 17 and 24 are applied to the wrench handle S and when properly positioned thereon the set screws 18 and 25 are tightened to hold these elements rigidly in the desired position. The collars 19 are then properly adjusted with relation to the sleeve 15 and the set screws 20 tightened. Rotative movement of the shaft 22 in one direction will cause the nturned flange 14 at the outer end of the hollow sleeve to move the shank 8 outwardly or inwardly depending upon the direction of rotation of the shaft. When it is desired to cut a pipe, the shaft 22 is rotated to move the jaw 11 outward to receive and enclose the pipe, whereupon the shaft 22 is manually rotated to move the jaw inwardly until the outer surface of the pipe is in tight engagement with the cutting peripheries of the disk or wheels 12 and 28. The handle 5 and the accompanying mechanism is then rotated in the usual manner to bring about cutting action, the shaft 22 being rotated from time to time to move the cutter jaw inwardly as the cutting depth increases and until the cut has been satisfactorily completed.

From the foregoing it is apparent that I have provided an attachment easy of application to the shank or handle of an ordinary wrench to convert the latter into an effective pipe cutting tool. It will be understood that the foregoing is a description of the invention in what appears to be its simplest form and it will be understood that variations in the specific construction of the parts may be liberally resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined by the accompanying claims.

I claim:

l. In combination with a wrench having a handle and a longitudinally apertured head, a shank slidably engaged in the said head aperture, a hook portion at the outer end of said shank, a cutting wheel mounted in said hook portion, a bracket secured to said handle, a sleeve rotatably supported in said bracket in parallelism with said wrench handle, and means on said sleeve engaged with said shank to cause the latter to move within said head when said sleeve is rotated.

2. The combination with a wrench having a straight handle and an offset head at one end thereof with a longitudinally disposed opening therein, a shank slidable in said opening, threads on the edges of said shank, a bracket secured on said wrench handle, a bearing member offset from said bracket and aligned with said longitudinally disposed opening, a sleeve rotatably mounted in said bearing member, a liange on said sleeve engaging the threads of said shank, means for holding said sleeve in said bearing member against longitudinal movement therein, and a hand operated shaft connected to said sleeve.

3. The combination with a wrench having a straight handle with a fixed jaw at one end having an offset portion provided with a longitudinally disposed opening, of a shank slidably engaged in said opening and projecting beyond the same, a hook portion at one end of said shank comprising a movable jaw, a bracket engaged with said wrench handle rearwardly of said fixed jaw, a bearing member carried by said bracket, a sleeve oiset therefrom and axially aligned with said opening, said sleeve being rotatably mounted in said opening and receiving one end of said shank, threads on said shank and said sleeve engaged with one another, a second bracket affixed to said handle in spaced relationship to the first mentioned bracket, a second bearing member integral with said second bracket and axially aligned with said sleeve, a shaft rotatably mounted in said second bearing member and connected with said sleeve, and cutter members on the end of said movable jaw and said fixed wrench Jaw.

4. In combination with a wrench having a straight handle, a xed jaw at one end thereof, spaced cutter members on said lixed jaw and an offset portion having a longitudinal aperture, a straight shank slidably engaged in said aperture and movable in parallelism with said handle, the outer end of said shank having a hook portion, a cutter on said hook portion to cooperate with the cutters of said fixed jaw, threads on the edges of said shank, a

said xed jaw, a bearing integral with said bracket and axially aligned with the opening in said xed jaw, a sleeve rotatably mounted in said bearing and receiving the adjacent end of said shank, an inturned flange on the end of said sleeve engaged in said threads, collars surrounding said sleeve and engaged with the ends of said bearing, a second bracket on said handle spaced from the rst mentioned bracket, a second bearing integral with said second bracket and oset therefrom and axially aligned with the rst mentioned bearing, and a shaft secured at one end to said sleeve and having bearing support in said second bearing.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 343,233 Estern June 8, 1886 372,080 Mitchell Oct. 25, 1887 575,685 Brockett Jan. 26, 1897 584,180 Levendusky June 8, 1897 893,369 Radtke July 14, 1908 1,376,936 Hermistone May 3, 1921 1,512,097 Horechney Oct. 21, 1928 2,366,257 Hartley Jan. 2, 1945 

